Cheap? Yes. Good...? (mains conditioner)

**Spod** · 23-08-2009, 11:31

Apologies for resuscitating an ancient thread but I've just got and been playing with the Tacima so I thought I'd share my impressions. To recap, my system is lower mid-range: Arcam CD73 as transport into the Beresford 7520, modded with the the Tirna 4032, into a Nad C352 on into Kef iq5se's. Its a fairly bright system, way way too bright for the 4562/MLC5/6 dac mod which sounded painfully tinny and sibilant.

I've resumed tweaking because a few CDs are sounding a bit compressed and "chewy", in particular anything by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Probably the CDs to blame but tweaking's fun so what the hell.

First I tried the mains conditioner for the transport, DAC and amp. Immediate impressions were subtle but positive changes - it adds a little bit more air and clarity, slightly sharpens things up and reduces the chew factor. Also, no noticeable loss of dynamics or punch despite warnings about this here and elsewhere. However I do listen at pretty moderate neighbour-friendly volumes so maybe that's a factor. In a way, the change is in the same direction as changing the dac over to the 4562/mlc5/6 but on a much smaller scale so it doesn't go far enough to cause the over-brightness.
BUT - there was something not quite right in the bass, not totally dissimilar from the effect of using the 4562 in the dac without the mlc5/6 mod, a sort of monotonal upper-bass.

So, step 2, put the amp back onto normal mains. This does seem to have sorted out the bass problem, at a cost of a certain something, possibly a tiny bit of the added clarity.

Nevertheless in this layout the conditioner has subtly improved the overall sound so at £25 I'd say worth trying for those on moderate budgets.

Right, that's enough typing, back to listening!

**Haselsh1** · 07-12-2009, 14:54

I too am resurrecting this thread for those that may be interested. I recently bought one of these mains conditioners from Amazon and consider it a total and utter waste of twenty five quid. Nothing about the sound has altered and I still get small clicks, pops and crackles from mains borne interference. This is even more obvious when using the phono input.

**Spectral Morn** · 07-12-2009, 15:27

Originally Posted by Haselsh1

I too am resurrecting this thread for those that may be interested. I recently bought one of these mains conditioners from Amazon and consider it a total and utter waste of twenty five quid. Nothing about the sound has altered and I still get small clicks, pops and crackles from mains borne interference. This is even more obvious when using the phono input.

Hi Shaun

Read my post 2...I was trying to be constructive in what I had to say about it. As I didn't think the comment its poor was enough. I can imagine that in some budget set ups with lots of mains issues that it might alter (not improve) the sound so it might to some sound better imho/e. Your set up however would be held back by it...no difference or worse.

Regards D S D L

**The Vinyl Adventure** · 07-12-2009, 15:37

Originally Posted by Dalek Supreme D L

If you have a lot of items in your house or near by that might put crap into the mains and a lot of budget gear will start to sound grainy its in these circumstances that this mains unit will be okay .....

in the shop we have a £1000 nad system that by rights, i would have thought, should sound pretty good. i have always though it sounded a lot more ropey (grainy is def a good discription) than i expected and had noticed that on installs it always sounds a lot better...
is this likely to do with the 17 tv's and all the ss we have set up?

**Haselsh1** · 07-12-2009, 15:43

Originally Posted by Dalek Supreme D L

Hi Shaun

Read my post 2...I was trying to be constructive in what I had to say about it. As I didn't think the comment its poor was enough. I can imagine that in some budget set ups with lots of mains issues that it might alter (not improve) the sound so it might to some sound better imho/e. Your set up however would be held back by it...no difference or worse.

Regards D S D L

Yeah, understand what you're saying.

**Rare Bird** · 07-12-2009, 16:23

These come on E-Bay cheap

http://www.russandrews.com/product.a...TGWLEVUPGHYGHO

**Themis** · 07-12-2009, 16:53

Originally Posted by Andre

These come on E-Bay cheap

http://www.russandrews.com/product.a...TGWLEVUPGHYGHO

Plug your Silencer in next to your system and it’ll create a ‘quiet area’ around it.

Advertised almost like a Belt device....

**The Grand Wazoo** · 08-12-2009, 01:01

You may find you'll get a better effect by plugging the (electrically) noisy non-audio gear you have around the house into one of these................

**Alex_UK** · 08-12-2009, 09:47

I did a similar thread on this unit a while back (though it quickly degenerates into DSJR Dave slagging off my speaker cables

) - and interestingly both myself and "abe" have Creek amps that work better not plugged in to the conditioner, but both found improvements elsewhere - though very modest system compared to most, which concurs with Neil's theory, and JasonP & Spod on this thread who have heard subtle improvements too. Maybe a placebo effect? (And Shaun is immune now he has glowy bottles!)

**Spectral Morn** · 08-12-2009, 10:52

Originally Posted by hamish

in the shop we have a £1000 nad system that by rights, i would have thought, should sound pretty good. i have always though it sounded a lot more ropey (grainy is def a good discription) than i expected and had noticed that on installs it always sounds a lot better...
is this likely to do with the 17 tv's and all the ss we have set up?

Yes...absolutely.

Regards D S D L

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